Worst game story!

[wakka]

I agree with the artist formerly known as CTN.

Storytelling in games is fundamentally different to in movies or books because of player agency - or at least the illusion of it. When a game is too prescriptive, it makes me feel like I'm on a ghost train being funnelled forwards. Like, I can wave my hands outside of the car and turn my head left to right, but I'm only ever going one way.

I don't think storytelling has fully adapted to the interactive medium yet. That's why all game stories are a bit crap at this point. Hiring proper writers is one thing, but they need to be working closely with the rest of the team to make sure that the plot is in synergy with the gameplay for it to be effective.

Otherwise I get the feeling that I had in the Last of Us, where it was like 'wow, this cutscene is really cool and engaging, especially for a game', then right after I have to just waste like 30 people in an alley with a shiv to get to the next area. There was a total disconnect (this was something Dogg Thang picked up on in the LoU thread that resonated with me).

[Dogg Thang]

I think what many game makers seem to miss is that playing is a narrative. Play creates its own narratives and if you give the raw materials to gamers, they will live their own narrative.

Sometimes game storytelling is completely at odds with the actual game narrative. For example, one particular bugbear of mine is when a game makes you fight a big battle or achieve a monumental task only to then show you a cut scene of you losing that battle or failing at the task. If your game sequence is to escape a captor, it completely breaks the game to follow a success with a cut scene of the captor getting you. It is in those moments where disconnect occurs.

And yet if a game dev just sows the seeds and lets you play, often a narrative will occur naturally. Look at Journey. Did we need a cut scene to tell us where to go? We decided we were going to undertake that journey all on our own. And that earlier thread I linked reminded me of the part of Half-Life 2 where I felt most engaged - a house sitting a bit away from me on a longer journey, not related to anything. It was my decision to raid that house and what played out was my narrative. And because I wasn't just being funneled or told where to go, it was all the more rewarding.

For me, the best game stories can absolutely guide us by the hand or force us down particular paths but, if they are doing it right, we won't feel guided or forced because we will have come to the decisions ourselves.

[QualityChimp]

the part of Half-Life 2 where I felt most engaged - a house sitting a bit away from me on a longer journey, not related to anything. It was my decision to raid that house and what played out was my narrative.

Ha! My narrative would be more like this:

Dr. Gordon Freeman enters the base of the resistance. Inside is Dr. Isaac Kleiner whom he's not seen since he rescued from the Black Mesa facility.
Dr. Kleiner: "Ah Gordon! Excellent to see you again! You might have noticed my pet headcrab, Lamarr. Never fear, Gordon, she's de-beaked and completely harmless. The worst she might do is attempt to couple with your head. Fruitlessly!"
Freeman ignores this whole discussion, refuses to acknowledge Kleiner's existance and spends the next ten minutes breaking open every crate in sight with his crowbar.

[wakka]

Great post Dogg Thang.

QC my alternate ending to your scene:

Freeman completely ignores Kleiner, leaping incessantly around the room, jumping into walls and sliding down them, attempting to jump on Kleiner's head and running around him in circles. Kleiner does not acknowledge.

[Largo]

I'm playing some jrpgs at the moment, one negative story telling point; characters with complete amnesia.
Seriously they are not a compelling story point, 5minute cutscenes every 2mins of; oh "f-f-f-flower" "yes yes its a flower you rememberrrr" "i-i-i-dont know" gdanm it get a god damn move on

[nakamura]

Haha which?

[Paddy]

More like which one doesn't? But sarcasm aside, yes its a far too often trodden path for JRPGs. They should take some influences from Resonance of Fate. That game had a funny trio indeed and the story was equal parts heartfelt and charming.

Worst game story though? As in even if the game is good but the story is an afterthought? Street Fighter IV? Or any fighter where the end boss collects 'fighting power/energy' to realise their main plan. Seriously, how flimsy can you get?